The Followers
by Dizzy.Blonde.Girl
Summary: Well...this is a crossover Alex Rider/CHERUB. Alex Rider gets put ón a mission to be Lauren Adams' bodyguard. Maybe Lauren/Alex later, haven't decided yet. R&R...Was my first fan fiction, but i have more now.
1. CHERUB!

Alex Rider sat in the office, not wanting to know what the man in front of him had to say. He had some nerve, asking him to come after Alex had told him that he had no intention of working for them. He had thought his life would be normal again after he had taken down snakehead. Obviously he was wrong. He sighed, sat back, and listened to Alan Blunt.

"Alex, this mission is a very simple one. Now, before you make up your mind, let me talk you through it. Let me start with where you will be.

"In London there is a place called CHERUB. CHERUB is an organisation that specialises in training teenagers between the ages of 11-17 to become spies for MI5 and occasionally the CIA. At CHERUB there is a girl named Lauren Adams. She has recently been on a mission that has put her life in serious danger. A very powerful terrorist organisation wants her dead. Before you ask, this is not Scorpia that we are talking about." Alan Blunt added, seeing Alex open his mouth to speak. He continued.

"All we want you to do is follow her, make sure that nothing happens. It will not be at all dangerous. We are not even certain if her life is indeed in danger. All we know is that this particular terrorist group like to get revenge. They have killed two of our agents before." Blunt finished, and looked at Alex expressionlessly. Alex stared back, putting pure hatred into his eyes. Alan could see that he had angered his best agent somehow.

"Ok Blunt, I have three questions," Alex snarled, his face like stone, "My first one is this, exactly what terrorist group is this?"

"The terrorist group that we are talking about are…well, they are what you could call followers of an old enemy of ours, who is long dead." Blunt chose his words carefully, knowing that he was treading on very thin ice.

"What old enemy?" Alex asked, getting frustrated.

"Adolf Hitler."

"Hitler!" Alex exclaimed, "You mean you want me to go up against a load of crazy racist nazis?" He couldn't believe it! Hitler had been the most feared person in the world once, and now this man wanted him to go up against his followers! He had to be joking!

"Yes Alex." Short and simple, Blunt got to the point "What is your second question?" Alex smiled when he asked this, but not in a nice way. He leaned forward.

"If this place where I'm going is full of trained teenagers, why do you me? Can't you ask one of them?"

"Well yes, but they don't have the same experience as you. You have got out of things that they only think about in their worst nightmares." Alan searched Alex's face after saying this sentence, anticipating his reaction.

"Ok, and my third question." Alex was unbelievably calm. But then he lost it. "IF YOU HAVE A CAMP FULL OF _WILLING _KIDS TO DO THESE MISSIONS FOR YOU, WHY DID YOU GET ME INVOLVED IN THE FIRST PLACE? AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP ABOUT EXPERIENCE, IF YOU HAD PUT THEM ON MY MISSIONS THEN THEY WOULD HAVE AS MUCH EXPERIENCE AS ME, WOULDN'T THEY?" Alex had stood up, his chest was lifting and rising rapidly, and he wanted to hit something. Alan Blunt was dumbfounded. No one had ever dared shout at him before, and now a 14-year old was!

"Alex please, sit down. We can talk about this. We got you involved because it's what your uncle wanted." He said as calm as ever. Alex stared at him in anger. He had said something wrong.

"DON'T YOU DARE BRING MY UNCLE INTO THIS! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, HE WOULD STILL BE HERE! AND BESIDES, IF HE DID WANT THIS, HE OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T CARE THAT MUCH ABOUT ME, SENDING ME TO DIE ALL THE TIME!" Alex's had filled with tears, the impact of his own words hitting him hard. His uncle hadn't cared. At least not enough.

"Alex…"

"DON'T. Ok, just…don't. I'll do your bloody mission. But I will never, ever help you again do you understand? I deserve a life. And not this one." Alex had calmed down, but tears were still in his eyes, threatening to spill. He wanted to go home, to be left in peace. To forget about the uncaring uncle that had been Ian Rider.

"Ok Alex. Smithers is waiting for you." Alan said, as soft as his harsh voice would let him.

"Of course he is." Alex muttered under his breath, as he turned on his heel and walked out of Alan Blunt's office, purposely slamming the door behind him. Sighing he wiped at a tear that had escaped his eye. He was back at it.


	2. Yeah, Right

**So, I forgot to put in an authors note in the first chapter. Basically, I wanted a way to bring CHERUB into Alex Rider, but still with Alex being, well, "da bomb". So, I did…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. If I did I wouldn't be here, writing this story. I also don't own CHERUB; if I did I would be ex-military. Or maybe just an old man. **

**Anyways, on with the chapter…**

Chapter 2

Alex huffed as he sat outside the office, slumped on a comfy chair. His face was set and he was biting his bottom lip, one hand in his pocket. The only gadget that he had been given was an offensive one: and it was a fountain pen. Not only was it a fountain pen, but also it was an ordinary fountain pen. Smithers had thought it would be funny to give him something "to write with." Alex wasn't so amused.

The door in front of him opened, and he got up of the chair. He walked confidently into the room, where a woman was waiting behind a desk to greet him. A girl was on the other side, and to put it simply, she looked pretty pissed. Alex guessed this was Lauren Adams.

"You must be Alex Rider. My name is Zara Asker. This is Lauren Adams." The woman motioned to the girl. Alex's guess had been right. The girl turned to look at him, giving him a little smile. He nodded his head at her, and she turned away again. Alex took the seat offered to him, and flicked an annoying strand of hair out of his eyes with a sharp motion of his head. **(A/N Remind you of Zac Efron? Don't drool on you're keyboards Zac lovers…)** He stared at Zara as she took the seat in front of him, and raised his eyebrows, waiting.

"So, Alex, I trust you have been told that you are to protect Lauren from any danger?" Zara looked at him expectantly. He just raised the other eyebrow. Lauren, however, wasn't so subtle.

"I don't need a bodyguard!" she hissed angrily "I don't mean any disrespect, but I seriously don't need one." Alex gave her a sideways look, before speaking for the first time since he had stepped into the office.

"Apparently I have more experience than you." He told her sarcastically. She glanced at him this time, annoyance flashing.

"Yeah, right." Alex smiled a little at this, but only for a split second, before saying on a more serious note. "I don't wanna be here any more than you want me here." Zara cleared her throat.

"I have been told about you're reluctance, Mr Rider. Alan has told me that you have some issues with working for him." She said.

Alan? Alex wondered if these two high-authorised people were more than connected work wise.

"Yeah, well Alan doesn't know the half of it." Alex told her, anger beginning to well up inside of him. Luckily Zara seemed to notice this, as she quickly handed over a key to Alex.

"As Lauren doesn't really want you sleeping in the same room as her, and as that is forbidden in CHERUB, you will be bunking with Lauren's brother, James. He is 16. You should at least try to get along."

"Oh, the joy." Alex muttered under his breath. He heard Lauren stifle a laugh, and realised she must have heard. At least the girl had a sense of humour. Her brother, however, did not have a sense of humour when it came to his sister's safety. James was apparently a very protective brother, and Alex was about to find this out.

**Sooo…yeah. Alex is bunking with James. The evilness of it. Muahahahaa!**


	3. James Adams

**So…next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews guys glad you enjoyed it.**

**I decided to play around with the ages a little. I decided Lauren would be 14, Alex 15 and James 16. I know that I played with the ages that Robert Muchamore gave us, but it's my story…:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Alex Rider or CHERUB. If I did, I would be a man. An old one too. No offence Anthony and Robert (the authors, not random people.)**

Chapter 3

James Adams sat on his bed, tying his shoelaces on his running shoes as he planned to do a couple of laps. He had no idea about his sister's bodyguard, as he had not been told about the mission that had landed Lauren in this mess. He didn't know, that was, until Alex came barging into his room, closely followed by the sister in question.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" he cried, his eyes fell on the suitcase at Alex's side. "Please don't tell me they are staying in here!" he added, pointing at the suitcase.

"Sorry bro, Zara's orders. Can't have a guy bunking up with a lady!" Lauren said this all with a smug look. He glared at her before turning to Alex.

The guy James was looking at stared right back at him with his empty light brown eyes. Blonde hair flopped over the corner of one of these eyes, and also covered the rest of his head. **(A/N Notice I wrote head, not face. He's not cousin It. From the Adams family?)** The guy couldn't have been older than himself.

"This is Alex." Lauren said simply, "Alex, this is my brother, James."

"I gathered that." Alex told her, glancing at her sideways. The guy was already annoying James. He looked at the suitcases again.

"He's staying with me, isn't he?" James asked simply, his voice taking on a note of sarcasm.

"Yep." Lauren replied, grinning cheekily. "He's my bodyguard. I was a little naughty on my latest mission." She went on, still grinning.

"Hang on a tick. If he's your bodyguard, why aint he bunking with you?"

"Because it's against the rules. Duh!" Lauren replied, shrugging.

"How's he meant to protect you at night then?" James was getting even more annoyed. "And since when have you needed a bodyguard anyway?"

"Ok, one. "He" is right here! Two, Where should I dump my stuff? Three, Your flies are undone." Alex said all this with an annoyed yet humoured tone. James quickly did up his zip. He had put his jeans on over his tracksuits, as they were warmer but less comfortable.

"Put your stuff on the bed. And that doesn't answer my question." James told him.

"Ok, let me ask you a question. Has your sister ever been on the run from crazy people with guns and horrible torturing methods?" Alex asked James this, anger flashing over his eyes for a split second, before becoming emotionless once more.

"No, she hasn't. Thank god." James told him, gritting his teeth as anger overcame him.

"Have any of the other CHERUBs on campus?" he asked this, and James felt dread creeping up his body.

"No."

"Than lets just say that your sister probably doesn't need my protection, but I think she needs my experience." Alex told him, looking him straight in the eye.

"So you've been on the run from crazy people then, have you?" James asked, disbelief written all over his face.

"Well, yeah actually. I kinda have." Alex told him.

"Who?"

"Scorpia." Alex told him the name, but he said it in a whisper, as though he was thinking about something that had happened with this Scorpia thing. James decided to let the subject drop.

"What about my other question? How will you protect her if you're not in the same room at night?"

"We'll use a baby monitor." Alex said sarcastically. James scowled, resisting the temptation of punching the guy in front of him. Lauren let out a snort. So Alex was annoying. James also got the impression that he was hitting on his sister. He was gunna make Alex's life a living hell.

**So, chapter over. I promise you action in the next chapter! (I mean the punching, kicking kind of action.) Will update as soon as I can. This is tough, CHERUBs are tougher! (Sorry, just a little hyper…)**


	4. I Almost kiled Him!

**Right, next chapter. Just wanted to say something: **

**Destinystar105: Haha, I completely forgot about the T-shirts. Opps. My bad. I will put it in this one. Thanks for the pointers, will try to make everything make sense in this chapter, as I forgot about the ID's to. Opps again. **

**Anyways, thanks for all the reviews, they make me proud…:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Alex Rider or CHERUB. I do not have enough imagination to do so. :)**

Chapter 4

A knock on the door interrupted Alex and James' meeting. A short boy walked in, and seemed completely surprised at the sight of Alex.

"Hey. Erm, Lauren, I heard that some new guy is with you, and that he needs to go through the tests." As he said this, he eyed Alex.

"Oh. Ok. Thanks Bruce." She turned to Alex, confused. "I thought you were fully trained with the SAS?" she asked him, frowning. He shrugged.

"I am." He said, before turning to Bruce. "So, am I going with you?"

"Erm, yeah. I think so." Bruce looked kind of worried. Alex wondered why. "Lauren, I think Zara wanted to speak to you about why you needed a bodyguard of something. She told you to go to her office while, erm…" he trailed off, not knowing what Alex's name was.

"Alex." Alex told him, smiling for a split second.

"Right, while Alex comes to the training. Not that it sounds like he needs it." Bruce added, frowning slightly.

"Ok. So I take it he doesn't have to guard me all the time?" Lauren said, mostly to herself than anyone else. Alex chuckled a little, shaking his head.

"So, are we going or what?" he asked, looking at Bruce, his eyebrows rose. The boy looked at him for a minute, before nodding.

"Yeah, right. See ya James." Bruce addressed James as though he was an old buddy. James nodded at him.

"Laters Brucey." Alex walked past Bruce into the hallway, to find himself face to face with a girl. She had straight dark hair and brown eyes. Alex guessed she was from China. She stared at him for what seemed forever before stepping out of his way. He smiled at her, and then took a step. She looked at him again.

"Hey. I'm Kerry." She said. He glanced at her.

"Alex." He told her. She smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Alex." He smiled back, and Bruce called to him. He looked at him, nodded at Kerry, and went after the other boy. He had to jog a little to catch up. Once he did catch up to Bruce, it to collide into him as the short boy took a sharp right turn.

"Opps." Alex said simply, while Bruce gave him the death glare. He didn't let this bother him, however, because he got it at school all the time. They carried on down the corridor and finally got to where they were meant to be. A door stood in front of them, and Bruce pushed it, to reveal a single blue mat. A man sat on a chair, wearing a white T-shirt. He looked up when they stepped into the room.

"Right, first you will be fighting." The man said.

"What?" Alex asked, confused. But then he sensed something coming towards his head. Because of the many times Alex had been in danger, he had developed an almost sixth sense; he could sense danger whenever it was near. So he ducked the thing that was coming towards his head, then before even looking to check what the thing was, he grabbed it and pulled.

Turns out that the thing was in fact Bruce's leg, and when Alex pulled it, he pulled Bruce along with it. So now Bruce was sprawled on the floor. Alex smirked, not liking where this was going. The other boy was quick to recover, however, and immediately slammed a foot into Alex's chest. It was Alex who made the mistake. He bent to remove the full bow from his stomach, and the foot hit the upper part of his chest, exactly where he had been shot by SCORPIA. Blinding pain overcame Alex, and he blacked out.

**Meanwhile, with Lauren.**

"So you're telling me that there is a snitch at CHERUB, who told The Followers where and who I am? Doesn't that mean bad news for everyone though? I shouldn't really be the only one with a bodyguard, right?" Lauren asked Zara, knowing that she should not be the main priority, there were much more dangerous people after CHERUB.

"We have only had threats from The Followers, nobody else. Besides, Alex should be able to protect the other main threats. One of which is your brother, who is sharing a room with Alex." Zara replied.

"James? Why is James in danger?" Lauren was shocked. As far as she knew, the biggest corporation that James had taken down was Help Earth, and they were religious nuts, they couldn't really do much harm.

"Well, James and Bruce took down a major drug lord, and the gang may still be active. It's always a possibility." Lauren was stunned.

"Are you trying to find out who it is?" She asked.

"Of course. It is our main priority, as we have sorted you out. How are you getting on with Alex, by the way?" She asked, looking Lauren in the eye.

"Well, we haven't really spoken. But he's a laugh and I can see myself having a good time with him James doesn't like him, though. But I didn't really expect him to. He's very protective of me, and Alex is really relaxed, so I don't think James is very happy about me having a relaxed bodyguard."

Before Zara could answer, the door burst open.

"I think I almost killed your bodyguard!" Bruce yelled, his voice shrill. Lauren and Zara both shot up at the same time, frowning at Bruce. He smiled nervously. Zara's eyes narrowed.

Ok…I'm going to ask you to vote…

**Alex and James make friends straight away. **

**Alex and James make friends when Alex saves Laurens life (which, by the way, he will.)**

**Alex and James make friends right at the end. **

**Place your votes in your comments. I'll make a tally chart…:) **

**By the way, if i made a mistake in the layout of CHERUB campus, it's because I don't have the blue prints. :)**


	5. A Black Shirt!

**Cheers for all the reviews. I really am quite proud of myself…:) righty oh, the vote carries on. For those who don't remember…**

**Alex and James make friends straight away.**

**Alex and James make friends when Alex saves Laurens life (which, by the way, he will.)**

**Alex and James make friends right at the end.**

**Place your votes in your comments. I'll make a tally chart…**

**Anyways…on with it…**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, nothing is mine…nothing…:(**

**Chapter 5**

"You did what?!" Lauren yelled at him, her eyes practically bulging out of her head. How could he have almost killed him in a one on one fight that was only as a test?

"You're overreacting a little there Brucey. Just walked passed Rider boy and he was only passed out. Doc said something about an old wound or something." James had walked into the room without anybody noticing.

"Did the doctor take him to the medical bay?" Zara asked James, already picking up her jacket.

"Yeah…he was in a wheelchair thing." James told her.

"Lets go." Lauren spoke this time. Only Bruce noticed the way James tightened up when he heard that Lauren cared about this Alex guy. In his opinion James was way to protective over Lauren. But she was the only thing he had left.

Once they got to the medical bay, they were led into a private room, where Alex was sitting up in bed, now fully awake.

"Dude, you look like sh…" Zara stopped Bruce from cursing by slapping her hand over his mouth. He scowled but didn't finish his sentence when she removed her hand from his mouth.

"No thanks to you." Alex said, a grin playing on his lips as he saw a look of guilt place itself on the other boys face. Once Bruce saw that Alex was grinning he loosened up.

"So, you gunna tell us why you, like, collapsed?" Lauren asked him from behind Bruce. Alex looked at her.

"Bruce just kicked an old wound of mine, no biggie." Alex replied, his face taking over its seriousness again.

"What wound?" James was speaking now. Alex glanced at him, wincing at the glare that he was getting.

"Erm…I was shot."

"What…by a bullet?" James' eyes had gone wide, obviously surprised.

"No, by a bird." Alex told him, sarcasm dripping off his tongue. James narrowed his eyes even more at Alex for that, and would have said a smart remark had Zara not interrupted.

"Right, so you need to stay in bed for a few days then? Lauren, you'd better get some stuff, as you will stay on the spare bed. We can't have you away from protection." When she said this, Alex snorted. Everyone turned to him, shocked.

"Seriously, just because I blacked out doesn't mean I can't move. It's fine, I can get up." As if to prove his point, Alex swung the sheet that was hanging over him to the side of the bed, and stood up. He swayed a little but regained his balance. Then he realised he had no top on. He glanced up to see everyone staring at the ugly scare on his chest.

"Erm…it was just a flesh wound?" Alex told them, his arms crossing over his chest protectively. Everyone looked away. James looked at him angrily, Bruce had admiration in his eyes, Zara's mouth was wide open and Lauren was blushing. Alex smirked at this.

"Ahem, can I have my top please?" He asked Lauren, who was closest to the chair that his orange t-shirt was lying on. It was then that James realised that he had broken a rule.

"Bollocks. He's an orange shirt. We shouldn't have been talking to him." He said, turning to Bruce. The smaller boy slapped himself on the head, and then rubbed it, cursing himself under his breath at slapping himself. Alex chuckled when he heard this. He had been told about the CHERUB t-shirts in his briefing, which had come in the post the night before he had arrived at campus.

"He's not one anymore. Alex, because of the apparently brilliant performance in your missions for MI6, we have decided to immediately give you the black t-shirt. This way people can not only know that you are higher authority, but also know that they shouldn't really mess with you." Zara told him this. Bruce and James' mouths both dropped at the same time.

"What??" James couldn't believe it. "He gets a black t-shirt without doing anything for CHERUB?"

"That's so unfair!" whined Bruce beside him. Alex burst out laughing, and for the third time in five minutes, James narrowed his eyes at him.

"Your…faces…are…hilarious…!" Alex gasped in between laughs.

"Yeah…haha real bloody funny." James said sarcastically, as Alex smugly slipped his new black t-shirt over his head. James ground his teeth. Yeah, this kid really was gunna get on his last nerve.

**Woo…ok. I updated…obviously. Remember if you review, vote. Oh, just to be awkward, I'm gunna put a second vote, as I can't decide who Lauren should become "friendly" with. Wink wink nudge nudge."**

**So, Lauren ends up with:**

**Bruce**

**Rat**

**Alex**

**Put your votes in a review. It's your choice…oh and I wanted to test your knowledge of Alex Rider a little, so I decided that I would put a question a chapter…starting from this chapter…:)**

**Question:**

**Which of his enemies did Alex state: "he must set off a lot of alarms in airports"?**

**Sorry about the long A/N. Toodles…**


	6. Where'd He Go?

**It's taken me forever to update this. Sorry. Anyways, yeah. I don't know where I'm going with this so bear with me here, this comes of the top of my head as I write it.**

**Disclaimer: Alex and CHERUB are neither mine nor, supposedly, yours. Unless Anthony or Robert are reading this in which case, hi! (That's right, I call them by their first names. Problem?)**

**Chapter 6.**

Lauren Adams lay on her friend Bethany's bed, reading a magazine. Her friend was talking to somebody on her mobile phone. Alex Rider sat in a chair on the other side of the room, looking bored as hell.

"Well, I think I'm gunna leave now. See ya Beth." Lauren waved at her friend, who lazily waved back, still chatting on her mobile. Alex looked relieved that they were getting out of there. When the door was closed, Lauren walked silently down the hallways, not looking back to see whether Alex was following her. She decided that she would go to see her brother, even though she knew he would be with his girlfriend. Then she heard Alex humming. Turning round, she raised her eyebrow at him. To find that he wasn't there.

She swivelled round: the hallway was deserted. Her breathing got heavier. Adrenaline pumped through her as her eyes searched every dark corner, every doorway. Nobody was there. Where the hell was Alex? Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder.

**Meanwhile.**

"Is it confirmed that it's the Rider boy?" the man asked his assistant.

"Yes." His assistant replied.

"Good. Contact SCORPIA, this is something that they vill vant to know." The man told her, turning to gaze out the window. He smiled a little, knowing that this could bring his organisation and SCORPIA to the same target. The two most feared organisations in the world going up against one place. He had found somebody that SCORPIA had tried, without success, to kill twice. Their pairing with Snakehead had failed. This one would not.

"Sir, the head of SCORPIA would like to talk to you." He turned to his assistant, taking the phone of her.

"Yes?" he asked the caller.

"Can you really confirm it?" the man on the other side of the phone sounded as though he had a chicken bone lodged in his throat.

"Yes, ve can confirm that it is the Rider boy."

"Excellent. Then it is agreed?"

"Yes, agreed." With that they both hung up. The man smiled, as he realised that his revenge was going to be taken after all. He could guarantee that nobody would forget this day. The day that the two main terrorist organisations joined together to get revenge on two…teenagers. Even now, the embarrassment of being beaten by a child still overwhelmed him. But now he knew that it was about to be reversed, he smiled.

Adolf Hitler sat down, now satisfied. Yes, Lauren Adams was about to be severely punished. He was known for his creative ways of committing murder, and he now sat at his desk, his imagination souring. He, the only remaining descendant of Hitler was going to kill a teenager. He smiled again, and went back to his pondering.

* * *

James Adams was lying on his bed, making out with his girlfriend when he heard his sister scream. He shot up, head butting Dana. She glared at him, but sprinted after him when he ran out of the door, skidding as his socks refused to give him grip on the floor. Dana resisted the temptation to laugh when he crashed into the wall opposite the door. But gasped when she saw the scene around her.

Muahahahaa. That was a pretty evil cliffhanger from me. I hate reading them, love writing them. :) So, right, I've made up my mind about James and Alex making friends, but I'm torn between Alex and Bruce for Lauren to get "friendly" with. Help me out?

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I almost pissed myself with laughter when I wrote the bit that says

' He, the only remaining descendant of Hitler was going to kill a teenager' **because this is what I call my friends dog, as it attacked me. (It bloody hurt to.) Anyways…yeah. Hope you liked…**

**P.S. I say that a lot don't I? Anyways…yeah, Anyways...yeah, Anyways...yeah. Just said it somemore. I'm weird...:) **


	7. Laughter

**Hey. So I admit the evil cliffhanger last chapter. They're so fun to write. Anyways, yeah. This is the new chapter. Enjoy. By the way, I love the reviews. :)**

**Disclaimer: There is only one way that you haven't figured out that I don't own Alex Rider or CHERUB, and that is if you are mentally retarded. I'm not being mentally retardist or anything…but seriously. **

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Chapter 7.

Dana's mouth was hanging wide open, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets as she stared. James was standing by her side, also staring.

Lauren Adams lay sprawled on the ground, blood running from a bleeding, but not broken, nose. Noises came from her that Dana assumed were of pain. But what was most surprising was what Alex was doing.

Alex Rider had a short boy, around his own age, pinned up against the wall. This boy appeared to be having difficulty breathing, and his face was bright red. The reason for his heavy breathing was not only the fact that he was pretty exhausted, or the fact that he had asthma (although Dana didn't know that yet). It was the fact that he was laughing hysterically. Alex was also laughing, his knees buckling as he attempted to stay upright. This was when Dana realised that Lauren wasn't moaning in pain, but was in fact laughing also.

"Right, what happened." This sentence caused Alex, who had just regained his composure, to break straight back into hysterics. He was pointing to the boy he had pinned to the wall, tears streaking down his face. His mouth was saying something inaudible, and Dana felt her anger rise. She was about to calmly tell him to stop laughing, when someone beat her to it.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?!" James. Always the subtle one. By now, Lauren had stood up, and her breathing was turning back to normal. Alex stopped laughing, then took one look at James' enraged face and began to laugh again. James turned to Lauren.

"Well…all I know is that Alex was whistling, so turned round to see what the hell he was whistling, and tell him it was getting on my nerves, and when I turned around he wasn't there. So I kind of panicked, especially when that guy touched my shoulder. So I turned around and smacked him one. Then I kicked him in the stomach, before I realised that he was asthmatic.

"Obviously, Alex heard me scream, like you did, but he was closer, so he ran in, and grabbed the dude, and tried to pull him up off the floor, but he fell over and…and…and…" Lauren broke back into hysterics. Alex let out a snort, but carried on the story for her.

"Well, I kind of fell on top of him, and he sort of…started wheezing. And then this little girl came in and saw us…and she ran off after mouthing 'rape'. So I got off the guy as quick as I could, then pinned him against the wall. Then I realised I know him." Alex turned to the guy, his face trying and failing to keep the serious expression. He snorted again, but didn't start laughing.

"Guys, this is…" He was broken off as Zara and the girl came running back in. They both had looks of panic, and Zara's face turned to confusion when she saw the scene in front of her.

"I was told there was a rape going on." She said. Alex looked over at her, and started laughing, _again. _

"Is it possible for a guy to rape another guy while they are facing each other, Zara?" Lauren asked her mission controller. Zara looked at her, and then turned to face Alex, who had finally stopped laughing, _again. _

"No, I don't believe so. I may as well introduce you all to the new boy. Not that you haven't already met him, of course. This, everyone, is…" Zara was cut off, as Alex was, when a scream irrupted from the hallway. Everyone turned to each other, and they all began to run at the same time. When they got there they realised that a girl had screamed out in fury because her boyfriend had just dumped her.

She had screamed again when James had failed to get his brakes into gear, and had ended up slamming into her, ending them both up in a heap on the floor. This had sent everyone, including Zara, into a fit of hysterics, and Alex actually fell to the floor this time, pointing at the four-legged creature that was James and the mysterious girl, who nobody had any idea what her name was.

* * *

By the time that everyone had stopped laughing and James had picked himself up off the ground, it was time for dinner. Everyone walked down the steps, talking about what had happened.

"Alex? I was wondering, where were you when you were whistling?" Lauren asked her bodyguard as they walked down the steps. He turned to her.

"I saw this poster thingy, and saw somebody I recognised on it. So I stopped and looked at it for a minute, then you screamed so I ran." He shrugged his shoulders. Lauren looked back at him.

"Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who was on the poster?"

"Erm…my dad. Turns out he just so happened to have been a CHERUB. You know, I really think MI6 knew about this. It's just another way to make my life just that bit more confusing. I've learnt not to be surprised by now." Lauren took this as a finishing sentence, and decided to drop it. She also decided that the topic about Alex's parents was a very sensitive one.

**Okay, did you like? Alex's dad was a CHERUB? And who is the mystery boy? I know. XD Guess.**

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	8. Who Is He!

**Bonjour. I decided that I was going to quit sunbathing, because my legs got burnt, and write another chapter.**

**Have you ever been sitting in the sun, not really paying much attention to anything because you've been reading a book, then looked down and thought 'bugger, I have a streak down my legs from where the sun has only hit the front'? If you have, can I join the club? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider by any means…neither do you and neither does the other person, or the other person, or the other person, or…well you get my point.**

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Chapter 8.

Alex Rider sat next to Kerry Chang, looking at the food in front of him. Why did he not get good food at the SAS camp? It was so unfair. He was about to dig into his food when he glanced up to see Lauren staring suspiciously at the plate of spaghetti Bolognese in front of her. He frowned, almost amused, and leaned forward.

"Explain to me why you are looking at your meal as though it will jump up and strangle you at any moment." She looked up at him, eyes narrowing, and opened her mouth to reply, but James interrupted all of them.

"You know, Zara's going to town tonight and she said that she could fit four of us in the car with her, to like shop or whatever. Who wants to go?" Everyone looked up at him.

"I can't, got a meeting to inform me on my next mission." Dana said, looking at James. He turned to her and pouted. She laughed and returned to her dinner.

"Well I won't ever say no to a trip to the big city centre." Bruce said, grinning.

"I take it that means that you're coming then, Kerry?" James turned to his ex-girlfriend, after already establishing that Bruce was coming.

"Yeah…I guess." Kerry replied, smiling across the table at Bruce, who's grin grew wider.

"Sis?" James turned to Lauren, looking at her. In his head Alex was praying that she would say no, knowing that it was very likely that he would bump into someone from school.

"Well yeah, duh. Alex would have to come as well, obviously." Lauren looked briefly at Alex, who was trying very hard not top bash his head against the table, before turning back to her brother and grinning at him.

"Groovy. Hey…er…new dude? You coming?" James turned to the asthmatic boy, who looked like he was about to laugh.

"Aren't you meant to be good at maths? That's five people going. You want me to sit on your lap or something?" the boy said, his lips curling up. Alex heard Kerry stifle a laugh.

"I like him." She whispered to Alex.

"He's normally shy…well he was when I knew him. His mum has probably made him more confident. His dad was always putting him down, not liking the asthma." Alex remembered the way the boy's dad used to look at him over dinner plates, disapproving of the fact he had a son who couldn't do anything athletic because of his illness. Alex remembered him being great at tennis though. Kerry nudged Alex, turning him back into the present.

"Huh?" Everyone was staring at him.

"What?" He asked them.

"I said…is it possible someone could have poisoned my food?" Lauren repeated her earlier question, and looked at him eagerly.

"Well…yeah it's possible. But I don't really think they would kill someone that ruined one of their operations with a bowl of spaghetti. They would want you to suffer." He grinned at her, and she blushed.

"I'm sure that reassured her. 'Don't worry, you won't die peacefully unconscious after being poisoned, you will be tortured in unimaginable ways first.'" Dana muttered loudly, making the whole table laugh at Lauren's face, which had gone very pale.

"Hey." Alex kicked her lightly with his shoe under the table, "That's what I'm here for right? To make sure that doesn't happen." Her eyes locked with his, and she smiled weakly. He grinned at her, before turning to James, who was telling a joke, but not really listening.

He knew what it was like, to be looked for by a load of crazed murderers. He knew what it was like to live in fear. The look on her face just now told him that Lauren was very scared, terrified, but was so used to making herself seem tough because of who was around her, and because of where she was. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a hand waving in front of his face. He turned to Kerry.

"That's the second time in five minutes. What is on your mind?" She asked. Alex opened his mouth to answer, but was cut of once again by James.

"Okay! I'm fed up. Is anybody even going to tell me his name?" He looked around the table, pointing at the boy.

"Why don't you ask him? He is sitting right there you know." Alex replied, smiling, knowing he was the only other person apart from the boy who knew his name.

"I tried. He seems to think that torturing me with curiosity will be fun." James turned to glare at the boy, before turning to Alex, waiting for him to tell him the name. Alex glanced at the boy, who nodded and shrugged at the same time, signalling that he didn't care if he did tell James his name.

"Okay. His name is Paul. Paul Drevin." James opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Zara walked in.

"Ready to go?" She asked them.

"Yep. See ya Paul. I still don't see why he couldn't tell me his name, it's not exactly hard is it…" James continued to ramble on about Paul. Alex rolled his eyes at Lauren,who smiled back at him.

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Once in the car, James and Kerry started bickering, making everyone groan. Alex could hear Bruce giggling at the ridiculous insults that were flying around the car, and couldn't help but laugh a little to. It was contagious.

"BRA STUFFER!"

"MAN WHORE!"

"OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE, IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP SOON I'M GOING TO TURN THIS CAR AROUND." Zara shouted, turning in her seat to glare at James and Kerry in turn. Lauren was in the front seat. Alex was reminded of a typical family moment, kids shouting in the back, mum shouting at the kids shouting in the back, and the young one sitting in the front looking very pleased with themselves because they were sitting there. This reminder was short lived, however, because normally the typical family moment didn't involve another car smashing into them. Which is what happened. Lauren screamed, the headlights turned off and the car was plunged into darkness.

Ohhhh!! So it's Paul Drevin?! Wow! Surprising! Not for me…because I knew from the beginning. But you know…yeah. Just…yeah. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.


	9. The RV

**Aloha! The next chapter is finally here. Sorry about the wait, but I have been pretty busy nowadays, what with my school work and…well nothing else I just wanted to use the word nowadays. It's a cool word!**

**Disclaimer: No, Alex Rider and CHERUB are not mine. But I may be writing to the queen to ask her if I can now own the word nowadays, because it is clearly a very awesome word indeed. **

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Chapter 9.

Groaning, Alex slowly opened his eyes. He could feel warm blood trickling down his forehead, and reached his head up to inspect the damage. Looking around him whilst wiping the gash on his hairline, he could see that he was the first to wake up. Lifting his head from where it had been thrown back onto the headrest behind him, he looked at Bruce, who was sitting next to him.

Bruce's nose was visibly broken. Blood flowed freely from the wound, some trickling into his open mouth. Alex was about to lean over to close Bruce's mouth, knowing that it was possible for him to suffocate from it, when something outside the window caught his eye. Movement.

Adrenaline rushed through him as he sat still, his arm still out stretched. His breathing grew louder, his heart pumping faster as the movement stopped. Suddenly, light flashed onto the car, illuminating the crash site.

The other car must have been going pretty fast. Zara's car was completely demolished on the left hand side, causing Lauren to look very squashed. Glass was all over the road from where the windscreen had smashed, and Alex couldn't help but think of it as a typical Hollywood-style car crash site. A sudden revving brought Alex out of his analysing of the situation, and he turned, astonished, to see a huge RV revving the engine. It was preparing to drive. Straight into them.

Alex reacted immediately, jumping up and grabbing Zara's seat to propel himself out of his own. He had momentarily forgotten about his seat belt, and was reminded about it when it tugged him back forcefully. Not paying attention to the feeling of nausea, Alex reached down with his left hand and pressed the button hard, causing his seatbelt to whip off him. Alex heard Kerry squeak, and turned to her. He bit back a laugh, realising his seatbelt had hit her in the face.

Turning back to the task at hand, Alex made quick work off Zara's seatbelt. Trying to ignore the immense pain in his ankle, sprained he decided, Alex pulled the grown woman out of her drivers seat. Realising that he had no idea where he was going to put her, he dumped the unconscious body on Lauren's lap. He thanked whoever was up there quietly for not letting Lauren be awake right now, knowing that the leg that now held Zara must be experiencing huge pain right now. He pulled himself into Zara's old position, grimacing as his knee hit the gear stick in his urgency.

He prayed silently for his "luck of the devil" to help him out right now, and he was granted with that when the car boosted to life as he turned the key. Looking at the dials, he was horrified to see that the petrol needle was very quickly going down, and he realised that the tank must be pierced. Knowing that he wouldn't even get a mile in this thing, he had a very quick choice to make. Which way?

The way back was uphill, and pretty close to the CHERUB campus. There was a chance, had it been flat, that the car would have made it. But Alex knew that petrol was wasted faster when driving uphill, and he also knew that the other way was downhill, and he could drive in neutral if the petrol did eventually run out. But it was a mile and a half to any building. Would he make it? He really hoped so.

Putting his foot down on the clutch, he changed the car into forth. Taking a deep breath to keep the now throbbing pain in his ankle at bay, he slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The car gave a noise of protest, but moved out of the way seconds before the RV slammed into them. Alex let out a barely audible 'Yes!' before switching the gears to third. The car began to move, rolling down the hill. Alex estimated a five second head start before the other car came after them again. His luck ran out.

The car decided that it wouldn't carry on moving. The engine died, the petrol continued to leak and the steering wheel came off in Alex's hands. He just sat and stared in shock at the object, then began to laugh at the irony. He knew that laughing in this situation was definitely a sign of complete madness, and he began to think that he had finally snapped.

Alex felt himself grow weak, the pain in his ankle engulfing him. He was still laughing as unconsciousness overcame him. He was faintly aware of the fact that no headlights appeared to have followed them before he sunk into darkness once more.

"THEY DID WHAT?!" Mike 'Monster' Pennington cringed as the voice boomed into his ear through the speaker of his phone, which he was now holding almost at arm length from his ear.

"Well sir, you see they realised that the Rider kid was inside…"

"THEY REALISED THE RIDER KID WAS INSIDE! AND THAT MAKES IT ALL RIGHT DOES IT? FOR GOD SAKE, I WARNED YOU ALL THAT THE KID IS EXTRAORDINARY! HE WILL WORK IT OUT! THE FOLLOWERS DO NOT KILL PEOPLE BY RAMMING THEM OFF A ROAD INTO A DITCH. THEY WILL KNOW WE ARE INVOLVED!" Monster knew he wasn't going to be able to justify what his team did. He didn't even know why they did it himself.

"FIX IT! AND FOR GODS SAKE, GET THE GODDAMN TRUCK OUT OF THE DITCH BEFORE SOMEONE REALISES WHAT YOU'VE DONE. OUR REPUTATION WILL GO TO SHIT IF WORD GETS OUT THAT SCORPIA DROVE THEIR OWN RV TRUCK INTO A DITCH WHEN A CAR MOVED OUT OF THE WAY." With that, the boss hung up. Monster couldn't help but think that it would be good if they did realise SCORPIA was involved. At least that way even more fear would be in the CHERUB's than it already was. He grinned at that thought, knowing that the kids were now in their worst nightmare. Being hunted by SCORPIA or The Followers on their own was goddamn scary; the two combined was the worst possible situation. He smiled, knowing that the children wouldn't know what hit them. Well, except for the RV of course.

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Well, chapter done and dusted. Quick question:

**The driver does sit on the right side in England right? I mean, if I was American I would have an excuse, but I'm kinda not, and I still don't know. I'm English and I don't know what side of the car the driver is. How patriotic of me. **


	10. Bright Light

**Hey! I feel so mean for not updating this in forever so I knew that I had to do it now. Thanks for all the amazing reviews; they make me feel very good on the inside. XD**

**Quick thing, I'm not trying to make you look stupid or anything…but SheWeapon1, I have to break it to you that England is in Europe. No worries though, I get what you were on about. Thanks. **

**Disclaimer: I have decided that I am no longer writing to the queen to ask her for the word nowadays…I like nincompoop instead. **

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Chapter 10.

Light. Bright, bright light. It burned into Alex's pupils and made his eyes ache, his brain strain to create a throbbing in his head. Closing his eyelids did nothing, the light shining through the thin layer of skin that was made to protect the vision. Bright light was all he could see.

A constant beeping. Annoying, persistent beeping that rang through his eardrums into his entire skull, ringing inside his head. The pattern is slow, but even. All he could hear. Beeping. _Beep. Beep. Beep…_

Pain. Pain in every bone in his body. Engulfing him, suffocating him like a blanket, refusing to go away. Trapped in a cocoon of unending torture. There was only one thing for it. He groaned.

"Is he awake? Oh, thank the lord he's awake." A voice, one that he recognised but only slightly. He couldn't quite place it, but he knew that voice. He forced himself to open his eyes again, getting temporarily blinded once more by the bright light. He turned his head, his vision clearing. Sitting beside him was Zara. She was looking at him, concern all over her face. He could see her left arm was in a sling, and she appeared to be having trouble with breathing. He guessed a broken rib.

"How's the car?" he asked her, his voice coming out croaky. Zara laughed when he said this, and the mood in the room brightened.

"The car's buggered. But we are all alive…just." At this, Alex attempted to sit up. He felt pain in his ankle and grimaced, lying back down. Panic was running through him, who was almost dead?

"Why just?" he asked her, his eyes searching hers for any kind of giveaway. But she was trained at this kind of thing, and right now her face was as emotionless as Alan Blunt's always was.

"If you hadn't of got into the driver's seat, Alex, none of us would be here right now. Although, Kerry is saying that she doesn't care whether you saved their lives, she still wants to kill you for smacking her in the face with your seatbelt." She frowned after this, and Alex broke into a full-blown grin.

"Christ, you had me thinking somebody was in a coma or something! Is Kerry dangerous or anything? Should I be watching my back?" Zara opened her mouth to reply, no doubt with something clever or joking, when another voice interrupted.

"Yes you bloody well should be watching your back. You gave me a black eye! Look!" Alex turned to the door to see Kerry standing there, looking as though she wanted to laugh but was holding it in. She was supporting an amazing black eye, and for a moment Alex felt quite proud of it. But only for a moment, because he immediately felt guilty when he saw Lauren.

Her face was still the same, nothing had changed other then a bandage running around her forehead. Alex was pretty sure he had one of those to. But she was sitting in a wheelchair, legs heavily bandaged. Alex looked at her right leg, the one that he had placed Zara on. It looked very swollen, and he felt guilt pang through him, as he knew that the extra weight he had placed on it must have been felt when Lauren had woken up.

"Yes, it does hurt like hell. Did you have to put her on _my_ lap? Why not Kerry's, whose legs were not crushed by the car?" Lauren said all this directed at him, and he smiled at her.

"You were closest." He tried in vain to shrug his shoulders, but winced when pain from his old wound pierced through him. _This thing is giving me way to much trouble lately_.

"Are your legs broken?" he asked her, and she turned to him from where she had been staring at the bed next to him. Alex turned to see a man with an all body cast, reminding him of a zombie. He vaguely wondered what had happened to him.

"No, my legs are not broken. Just a little sore." She grinned at him. He let out a little laugh before stopping and grimacing, pain shooting through him again.

"So you thought: hey, I can use this as an excuse for Kerry to push me everywhere instead of having to walk."

"Exactly." Alex opened his mouth, when somebody else walked into the room. Paul Drevin smiled at him.

"This is kinda like when we first met. The hospital, the whole lying in bed dying thing. Except I don't have appendicitis, thank god."

"Our first date. You were very nervous."

"Yes well you looked very good looking in your stripy pyjamas and fluffy socks."

"I was not wearing fluffy socks!"

"I know, but it creates the illusion." They looked at each other for a minute, before bursting into hysterics. Alex ignored the pain, just glad to be laughing instead of worrying about something for once.

"I knew they were poofters!" Bruce's booming voice made them all jump. He walked through the doorway, half his face covered in the bandage around his broken nose. Alex grinned at him.

"Yes…terribly obvious wasn't it. I mean, could you not notice the attraction?" Alex was talking purposely posh now, and everyone in the room laughed.

"Why are you laughing when my precious face is ruined by this god awful piece of cloth the nurses call a bandage?" James Adams walked through the door into the already crowded hospital room. His right eye was covered in a bandage, and his cheek had stitched thanks to a nasty cut. It gave him an almost rebel look, his new haircut, which was quite short but not as short as Bruce's, added to the effect.

"No loss there." Kerry said this with a sweet smile on her face, and James turned to glare at her whilst the others laughed. Alex didn't join in though, suddenly getting the feeling he was being watched. Closely.

Monster lay on his stomach, hidden by the trees on the hill. He was peering through a device that made it easy to see and hear everything that was going on in the room. He heard the jokes, the laughs. He saw the smiles, the winces of pain.

'_No loss there." All the kids in the room laughed, but the Rider boy didn't join in. _Monster frowned. Why wasn't the kid laughing? Had he decided to be moody? Just when Monster was thinking of the Rider kid as a spoilt brat, Alex turned. And looked straight at him. He jumped back, startled and a little creeped out. How had the kid known he was there? Suddenly, his phone rang making him jump.

"Monster."

"Tonight. We do it tonight. I trust they will be out by then?"

"Yes sir. The Rider kid has just got up from the bed."

"Excellent. Prepare the men, tonight the children die."

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Well…did you like it? It was really just filling in on what happened at the end of the other chapter, and then adding something at the end to make it more interesting. I know how I'm ending this now, but I still have quite a few more chapters to go before then. Hope you enjoyed this. XD


	11. Move Out

**Hey. I needed to update this so I am. Not going to ramble on because I need to get to write the thing. Hope you enjoy the chappie. XD**

**Disclaimer: Alex Rider is not mine, and neither is CHERUB. I own the plot however, which means I have the privilege of doing whatever I want with the characters (not in that way, get your minds out of the gutter.) Enjoy. **

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**Chapter 11**

"_This is the Beaster team. We are in position, what are your locations? Over." _Monster picked up his talkie and answered in a calm and confident voice.

"_Monster team is in position by the north wall. Over." _He glanced around at his team as voices sounded over the radio signal, telling their locations and what team they were. Monster had by far the best team; he needed it. They were given the hardest job; they were given the job of getting the Rider boy away from the girl long enough for the other teams to grab her. They also had to arrange to get Rider out of the building and into the van that was parked discreetly out front. They had all been told not to underestimate the agents involved in CHERUB and to not take any chances. And chances they weren't going to take.

A crackling could be heard over the radio and he signalled quickly to his men to get ready to move out.

"_Move out boys." _The voice sounded muffled and far away, but it was all Monster needed. He gave a final signal to his team, and began to stealthily walk across the field, towards the building in front of him.

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Alex Rider jolted awake from his sleep, his breathing quickening up and adrenaline pumping through his veins. His sat up in his bed, willing his eyes to get adjusted to the darkness. It was pitch black, like it was supposed to be, and Alex was about to lay back down when light began to flicker from under the door leading to the room. It was no mistaking that it was a flashlight, and Alex froze halfway between laying down and sitting up, causing his stomach muscles to tense up painfully. He slowly sat back up, cursing the camp bed as it creaked. He froze again, staring at the light. It appeared undisturbed and he breathed a sigh of relief. He rose out of his bed and towards the door slowly, wondering whether to wake his roommate.

He made up his mind, turned, and walked towards James' bed. He was about to shake him when he realised that James would probably start to shout and rant at him, so he placed a hand over the boy's mouth before shaking him. Naturally, James panicked upon feeling a hand over his mouth and tried to kick Alex off him. Alex placed his face close to the other boy's and shushed him, nodding his head towards the door.

James' eyes went to the door and widened slightly. He looked back at Alex and nodded, telling him that he could let him go. Alex did, and James got quietly out of his bed and they walked towards the door.

Alex opened the door slowly and saw a man standing with his back to him across the hall. He walked stealthily towards the man and looked around him for something to use. Spotting a fire hydrant not far away he smiled to himself, remembering a particular time back at Wimbledon when he had cracked a Chinese man over the head with something similar. Except it was filled with gas, not foam.

Raising the hydrant above his head, he swung it down on the man's head, causing him to instantly fall unconscious. Now Alex had a problem because he knew that if the man fell to the ground it would alert the other people with him, and Alex really didn't want that.

Still holding onto the hydrant he caught the man in front of him. The man was very heavy, and Alex began to slide down towards the ground himself, his socks slipping from underneath him. He silently cursed his stupidity for not getting a pair of shoes on before coming out of the door. Suddenly the weight was lifted off him, and Alex turned to see James now supporting the man and laying him on the floor without a sound. James then proceeded to take the flashlight and gun of the man, before taking of his shoes and handing them to Alex, smirking. Alex saw that James had been clever enough to put shoes on, and Alex coughed, a little embarrassed. After placing on the shoes and putting the fire hydrant down he reached out to James and signalled for the gun. The other boy stared at him for a long time, obviously arguing with himself inside his head, before cautiously placing the gun in Alex's hand. Alex flicked a latch with his thumb and the magazine fell out. He counted sixteen bullets before placing the magazine back into the gun and holding the gun by his side, ready to use in case it was needed.

James watched all this, and then began to walk down the hallway, the flashlight held in front of him like a sword. They both walked down the hallway and turned the corner before quickly backing away again. Three men were stood outside Lauren's dorm door, and the two boys looked at each other questioning what to do. Their question was answered when the door opened and another man walked out dragging Lauren along behind him. The girl was kicking and screaming, and doors began to open along the hallway. The room next to Lauren's was Bruce's room, and as it opened one of the men aimed a gun at it, ready to fire at will. Before Alex knew what he was doing, he shot the man once in the shoulder, causing him to scream out in agony before falling to the floor.

The other men now looked towards Alex, and he was unnerved to see the recognition in their eyes. They recognised him, and this fact unsettled Alex greatly. Not many people knew who he was, and the people did were either very high in authority or someone he had crossed. Alex's own eyes then widened in recognition as he realised that the gun he was holding had a silver symbol on it. He dreaded what he was going to see as he turned it and his worst fears came into light when he saw that he was indeed very right. A scorpion shined back at him. Alex snapped his head back up to where the man was standing, and saw a gun pointing its barrel at him. Before he could even think about it, Alex raised his own gun and the sound of a gunshot filled the air.

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And I leave you with a really quite mean cliff hanger there. I will try to update soon, but I have just started upper school and am rather busy (at my school we move schools after year nine two weeks before summer holidays, it's all really quite confusing). Until next time, chow.


	12. Bang, And The Smirk Is Gone

**Hey! Now, there is something that I am rather embarrassed about…and that is that I told you last chapter that Alex picked up a fire hydrant…well he didn't. Because that is pretty much impossible. And there really wouldn't be a fire hydrant inside of CHERUB anyway. I meant fire extinguisher. Thanks to rid3r chick for pointing that out…and making me slap myself on the forehead for being so stupid. So…cheers for that. XD**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Although I am going to kidnap the authors sometime soon and force them to sign their stories over to me…you want in?**

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**Chapter 12**

Alex stood with the gun in his hand, sixteen bullets still filling it. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes were wide. Time seemed to have stopped as everyone in the room froze, shock appearing on every face. Then, breaking the spell, Lauren screamed at the top of her voice, and she began struggling ferociously, not preparing to allow the man to drag her away.

"JAMES!" Alex turned to look at the boy by his side, dreading what he knew he was about to see. The man in front of him, who still had his gun raised, had turned his gun at the last minute before shooting, and the bullet had driven right into the older boy's chest. The damage was critical, Alex was sure of it, and he knew that if James wasn't taken to a hospital soon, he would loose too much blood.

James' face had a look of shock. His eyes wide, his mouth gaping open as though some invisible force was holding it in order to see his tonsils. Then his mouth closed, his eyes became normal and he looked down at his chest, where the bullet hole was visible. The boy looked up one last time before falling face first to the ground.

Alex decided to use his only plan for now. He knew that he couldn't let James die; he knew that it was all part of protecting Lauren by protecting her brother as well. So, with this in mind, he pointed his gun straight at the man in front of him and said, in his most dangerous and scary voice-which was quite scary if he thought so himself:

"Let. The girl. Go."

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Monster felt chills run down his back at the voice. A boy, a teenage boy, was pointing a gun at his head, and it didn't seem as though he was going to be hesitating on shooting. Monster couldn't believe it, but he found himself feeling very scared of the boy in front of him, which was ridiculous because he was an agent for SCORPIA and this was a 15-year-old boy with messy bed hair and flannel pyjamas.

But, then again, this was no ordinary teenager. This was Alex Rider. A boy who had beaten SCORPIA twice, two times more than any other person had done before him. And now, staring into the boys terrifying eyes, he felt discouraged about the fact that he knew this kid had been taught to be a sniper by SCORPIA themselves. And SCORPIA snipers never missed. Ever.

Unless they happened to be shooting at a certain Rider boy. Damn teenagers.

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Lauren Adams had watched as the man standing barely three feet away from her drove a bullet into her brother's chest without hesitation. She had practically screamed the place down and was sure she had broken the foot of the man that was holding her. But even she stopped, angry and tearful as she was, when she heard Alex say the sentence. The pure anger, the hatred and the coldness that was put into the voice made him terrifying, and Lauren couldn't help but want to get as far away as possible from her bodyguard.

The man holding her had frozen, and then begun to let go of her slowly, as the man who had shot her brother signalled to him. As soon as Lauren was out of his arms she ran to her brother, turning him over and staring at him, tears filling her eyes as she saw the paleness of his face. The spark that was almost always in his eyes had gone, replaced by fear. Fear for his own life, and fear for his sisters. Lauren felt herself choke up as she realised that even when facing death, her brother still felt like he needed to help her, protect her.

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At the same time as Lauren had ran over to James, uproar had taken the building and now all the SCORPIA agents were under attack from teenagers in frilly nightgowns and short pyjamas. What was more, the teenagers were winning and the agents who hadn't been bundled were making a hasty retreat. Alex grinned when he saw that the man who had shot James had been the first to be piled onto by the Cherubs.

_James. _

Alex swivelled quickly to where James lay on the ground, seeing Lauren kneeling beside him, her body trembling from tears that fell silently down her face. She turned to look at him.

"He's not breathing." Her voice broke and she began to sob, turning her face back to her brother. For the second time in five minutes the world froze for Alex.

_Not breathing? _No! He couldn't be! Not dead…could he?

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Adolf Hitler was not happy. In fact, he was so not happy that some would go as far as to say that he was unhappy, but this was not the case. Yes, SCORPIA's men had failed miserably, but he was willing to put that behind him because they hadn't failed completely. For they now not only had conformation on the whereabouts of Lauren Adams – even though he was positive before hand – but they also knew what they were up against.

They were up against an entire building full of trained children, children who knew exactly what to do at times like invasions and kidnappings. But what was perhaps even more important was that they now knew what they were up against when coming face to face with a teenager by the name of Alex Rider.

Hitler had decided that Alex Rider was a boy he would strongly like to meet. He sounded like the kind of person who would stand up to him, make a cocky statement and not be afraid to stand up to him. Not many people stood up to Adolf Hitler, and he liked and enjoyed the people that did.

So yes, he would very much like to meet this Alex Rider. And he was sure he would thoroughly enjoy killing him. Painfully.

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Monster was not in a good mood. Not only had a 15-year-old frightened him, but he had also been bundled on by a load of children that appeared to need to be in primary school. And now he was strapped to a metal bar inside an office that was bolt locked. He cursed himself for obeying Rider and letting the girl go, because that was what had appeared to set the children off.

Well, at least he got in a shot. He knew for a fact that the boy that he shot would be much worse than him in the morning. In fact, the kid might not even wake up.

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**Okay…I quite like that chapter. I really did leave you with a mean cliffhanger last chapter…and I'm leaving you with one today as well. Although in my opinion it's not really as bad. XD**


	13. Phone Call By A Long Dead Nutcase

**Ahh! I'm so ashamed! I haven't updated for what seems like years!! I'm not going to bore you all by telling you all about my social life and stuff, because that would be, well, boring really. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. XD**

**Disclaimer: I still by no means own Alex Rider or CHERUB. Try to remember that, it's starting to get boring typing it all out over and over and over and over…**

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Chapter 13

It was frantic. Nurses, doctors, surgeons sprinted down the hallway, beepers making shrill noises and random people cursing under their breath as they swerved out of the way of the professional medical staff who were desperate to get to surgery room 6.

Surgery room 6 was full by the time the last nurse got there, and still she had a job to do. Hospitals normally didn't agree with treating particular patients specially, but this boy was so young, and in a very critical condition. It was doubtful that he would get through, but none of the personnel of this hospital had the heart to tell that to his heartbroken sister, who was completely shell shocked and had even tried to enter the surgery room. No, the doctors would rather work hard than have to tell a fourteen-year-old girl that her brother was very likely to die.

* * *

Alex Rider sat on the bench, handing the girl already occupying it a cup of strong coffee. She took it without a word, her face pale and lifeless. Every now and then her eyes would flicker towards the door of the surgery room, and she appeared to be sniffing constantly. Although he knew it was a rather mean thing to think in this kind of situation, the noise was bugging the hell out of him. It seemed like all he had heard for the past three hours had been sighing and sniffing.

Sniff. Sniff.

Alex took a deep breath, trying to hold in the comment that he knew was coming, and let it out through clenched teeth.

_Sniff. Sigh. Sniff._

He ground his teeth, eyes looking around for something, anything, to distract him from the aggravating being that was currently Lauren Adams.

Sniff. Sni…

Lauren and Alex jumped at the same time when, suddenly and apparently from nowhere, 'You can leave your hat on' by Tom Jones began to play. Alex was so tempted to get up and pretend to strip that had it not been for all the staring eyes on him he probably would have. Wait…staring eyes? Oh right, it was his phone.

"Hello?" the screen said private caller.

"Is this Mr Rider?" a voice, laden heavily with a strong accent, Alex was guessing France or Germany, answered him back.

"Err…yeah it is. Who is this?"

"My name is not important, Mr Rider. All you need to know is that I am not a man you want as an enemy, and an enemy you have certainly made of me."

"Well that's all good and dandy and all, but to be honest I have quite a few enemies…Scorpia, a few of the French, the random policeman I happy slapped that day…my point is that it's not exactly old news for me."

"Is there a Television where you are Mr Rider?" Alex sighed.

"I'm sitting in a cave with Hitler, but it's okay because he has a plasma." He replied sarcastically, while spotting a T.V in the corner of the waiting room. It was turned off.

"I doubt that Mr Rider, because unless there are two of us, I am not sitting in a cave myself. Channel 4 news, enjoy." The line went dead, and Alex's brain took a few seconds to actually interpret what the guy on the line had said, before he realised that he had just actually been talking with the leader of The Followers.

"Are you okay dear? You seem a bit flustered, was it bad news on the phone?" an old lady was sitting next to him, her hand on his arm. Her face lost it's concerned look when he flashed a charming grin at her. Putting on an American accent, just for kicks, he replied

"No ma'am, it's just not every day you get a phone call from Adolf Hitler. Have a nice day." He stood and walked away, leaving the old lady with what he presumed was a pretty shocked look on her face.

Alex got to the desk, and smiled at the receptionist behind it.

"Hi, do you mind if I put on the T.V? My dad wants to catch up on the news, just because he likes to be boring." Putting on the teenager act, he rolled his eyes at the woman in front of him. She smiled at him.

"Sure thing. Just press the power button, I'm sure you've done it before."

"Cheers."

He began to feel nervous as he got closer to the television, but he knew that he had to see what was going on. The screen flashed when he pushed the button, but came to life fully afterwards. Dreading what he was about to see, he turned the channel to 4. As soon as he saw it, he gasped, his eyes widening as he fought down a wave of panic.

"Oh my god." He whispered, his mouth felt suddenly dry. He closed his eyes for three seconds before opening them, but the screen still had the same picture. The commentary began.

'_Yes, it has become clear that this is a hostage situation. Every student inside that building over there, just to the back left of me, is being held as leverage against an unknown person. It has not been revealed the number of casualties, but just recently, about ten minutes ago, a gunshot was heard inside the school. It has been presumed that at least one person is dead, as too who that person is we not yet able to say. All parents of the students of this high school are devastated, and panic is spreading over this part of London. More later when we get an update. Back to you, Phil." _

The picture faded back to the main news team, but the old one remained etched into Alex's mind. His breathing was becoming quicker and his heart rate sped up.

A reporter stood outside a building, the bricks were red and there were many windows. The buildings was about 3 storied high, and other separate, smaller buildings belonging to the same land stood next to the main one.

Alex knew the building all to well, he knew exactly where every classroom, every office and every library was inside. Because the building standing behind the reporter, was his school. Brookland High School.

"I always hated the Germans." He muttered darkly under his breath. At least if he had a heart attack he was in a hospital.

* * *

Lauren Adams had watched Alex's whole display with wide eyes, wondering just what the hell her bodyguard was doing. She was about to get up and ask him, when the doors to Surgery Room 6 opened, and out stepped a doctor. His previously white, gleaming apron was now covered in blood. _My brothers blood._

"Are you Lauren Adams?"

"Yes. Is he okay? Oh God please tell me he's okay."

"Your brother has lost a lot of blood, and he is not yet stable, but we believe that he will make it."

Lauren didn't know what came over her, but she pulled the doctor into a hug, blood covered apron or no blood-covered apron.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she was saying it fast, repeating the words. Happy tears ran down her cheeks, and she momentarily forgot about the boy standing on the other side of the room, the boy who had just found out that it could be one of his classmates, one of his friends, who was dead.

For the first time in his life, Alex Rider was suddenly grateful that no Jewish kids went to his school. Except for maybe that one boy…

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Okay, there is the chapter done and dusted. I have been trying to think of where to go with this story for months, and I was walking to school today and I thought 'Wow! Idea! Hostage situation here I come!' (It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I watched the film last night…you know the one with Bruce Willis?) Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed…I will try to never be this long with a chapter again. Thanks for the reviews and alerts, I love you all. XD. Xx


	14. The Governmants Gunna Kill Us

**Well hi there. This needed updating, so here I am. XD. Enjoy, and sorry about the little cliffy last chapter. Well…not really but ho hum. XD.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine now, will never be mine in the future. Want to know about new books? Bother the writers. I'm just here to write about teenage agents from different books series' coming together. Leave me be! XD**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 14**

Breath came in puffs, lungs hurt, leg muscles strained and inhaling came in dry sobs. He couldn't stop now, he knew that much. There was no way that he could stand to stop, when he knew that any minute now, a friend could die or a teacher could be murdered. His phone was ringing, but he didn't have the time to pause to pick it up. It would only be someone worrying about where he was. Maybe even Lauren to give him a long speech about how he was supposed to be at her side at all times. It was maybe sometime when he got half a mile away from the hospital that he had thought to himself 'is my luck so bad that the hospital had to be on the opposite side of London to my school?' But, of course, he knew that he was over reacting. It wasn't on the opposite side of London…it was just really far away.

As soon as he heard police sirens, saw flashing lights in the shadows of the building that he knew he had finally reached his destination. Turning the last corner, he came face to face to the reality of a hostage situation. Police cars surrounded the building, but not close enough that they were in any danger. Not unless the enemy had a bazooka, anyway. _'Wouldn't put it past them'_ he thought bitterly. One, lone news van sat very far from the school. The rest, it would appear, had been shooed away. Wouldn't want the precious news reporters to be hurt. He snorted at his own unrealistic thoughts. It was common knowledge: the people that police most disliked were reporters and criminals alike.

Looking around, one particular person caught his eye. This person was dressed in a simple, plain grey suit. The mans face was stern yet emotionless, his fittingly grey eyes looking straight ahead towards the building in front, his mouth set in a straight line. Alex felt irrational and strong relief at the sight of the man. Irrational because every other time he had seen the man, it had not been in a good situation. Strong because he knew that the fact the man was there meant that something must have been being done to prevent more death of his classmates. Alex Rider could honestly say he never thought he would have felt such relief upon seeing Alan Blunt.

* * *

"Where the hell is he? He's meant to be at my side at all times, dammit! Why isn't he answering his bloody phone? I swear, if he has gone running off with some nurse or something I'll kill him myself, let alone these SCORPIA people! Answer your damn phone!" She was the perfect picture of a freaked out girlfriend. This was the conclusion that Zara Asker came too. Of course, the girl wasn't. She was a freaked out body guarded girl, whose said bodyguard had disappeared into thin air.

"I mean, come on! He can't just leave whenever he wants to! He's supposed to protect me! If I die he'll be sorry, oh boy will he be sorry. I'm gunna die!" great, now she was hyperventilating.

"Lauren Adams! You are not going to die. We will find Alex, I am sure he has a perfectly reasonable explanation for leaving. Maybe he is in the loo, did you think of that? He may have just needed some fresh air. Calm down."

"I checked the damn loo. Well, I shouted through the door of the loo and some bloke who sounded fat answered back 'This Alex bloke isn't in here, now bog off', which I thought was a pretty unfortunate choice of words if you know what I mean. Oh god, what if he's dead? MI6 will kill us! We're gunna be killed by the government! The last time I saw him he was asking the lady at the desk to put the news on, because he got a phone call from someone. It was her! The lady at the desk kidnapped him! Oh god, call the police or something, don't just stand there, do something!"

"Wait, slow down! Did you say he put the news on?" Lauren nodded at Zara's question, frowning and opening her mouth to come out with something else completely outrageous. Zara beat her to it.

"Well, turn that TV in the corner on, maybe something that was on the news caused him to leave. What are you waiting for?"

Lauren jumped up, and switched on the TV. Some cheesy cartoon came on, and she turned it over quickly, before she could get distracted. Finally reaching the news, a report came in.

_'And an update on the hostage situation at a school in London. There has been no conformation of who was shot inside the building, and no contact has been made to our knowing, but it is possible the police believe the hostage takers as dangerous as our news van has been moved back to a block away from the scene, and all police transport was also moved farther away from the Brookland High School. We will receive more updates, and will keep you posted._

_Now, our next story, a man believed to be a suspect in a kidnapping case was found dead this morning…"_

The voice faded into the background as Zara gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"What? What is it? Zara?"

"Brookland. That's Alex's school."

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"Mr Blunt!" Alex jogged towards the head of MI6, his body beginning to cool down and his breaths becoming less jagged as his pulse slowed.

"Mr Rider. Where is Miss Adams?" The mans face had not changed, the emotionless face still withholding, but the tone of his voice, just slightly change from the normal, flat tone the man used, showed that he was disapproving of Alex leaving Lauren.

"She's back at the hospital. She's safe. Tell me what's going on." Alex dismissed the subject of the girl he was supposed to protect with a wave of his hand, desperate to find out what was happening inside his school.

"Well, Mr Rider, your school has been taken hostage. I should think that much would be obvious." Alan Blunt turned once again to face the building in front, the gesture clearly showing that the man believed the conversation to be over. Alex had different feeling towards the matter.

"You're sending in a SWAT squad or something, right? To get them all out? I want to go with whoever you send in." Alex's tone was final; his face set and determined.

"A highly trained team is currently trying to find a way undetected into the building. And I had been hoping you would, Mr Rider. None of my men have ever set foot inside the building, whereas you have been taught there for the past couple of years. I will find you a man to suit you up and escort you to the team." Apparently, Alan Blunt had known this was all going to happen. _'Smug much?'_

As soon as the important man had finished what he had been saying, another, less important man stepped from the vehicle beside Alan Blunt and told Alex to 'Follow me, kid'. _'Kid? I bet I've been through more than you, buddy. Ever been into space, mate?' _his thoughts seemed extra bitter. Must have been the stress.

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"Right, and if he wakes up, you'll phone the number I just gave you straight away right? Oh, and if he dies or anything, please don't tell me over the phone. I'd rather know face to face…you're meant to say he won't die! Oh god, I should stay. He might die Zara. I think I'm gunna stay." Lauren was still freaking out. She was frantically waving her hands in front of the doctor's face and her body was very tense.

"He will not die, Lauren! Now come on! We have to get to the school, before Mr Rider does something stupid on impulse. Boy agents tend to do that, you know. I had this one boy who decided that jumping off the roof would be a safer way to get down from the building when it was on fire than going down the fire escape. It wasn't pretty. He survived, just. Lauren! Stop pestering the doctor and lets go!" Zara yanked the door open hard, not looking. It was only when the cold, unmistakable feel of the hard metal of a gun barrel pressed into her pulse that her eyes turned to the door. The man was not looking at her, even though she was the one with the gun pointed at her, he was looking at Lauren.

"Hey there kiddo." The attacker turned the gun from Zara's pulse, pointed it at a fear stricken Lauren, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"Right, the plan is simple, yeah kid?" _'There we go. Kid again. I hate the SAS.'_ Alex raised an eyebrow at the man before him.

"Yeah, we get in through the chemistry block that is being built, so there will most probably be no one there and it blocks the view from the main building. Then we move 'stealthily' across the grounds, get into the school without being killed 'somehow' and stop the bad guys in time to save Ben, the little Jewish kid. Got it." He grinned cockily at the grown man, who appeared to growl before nodding shortly at Alex.

"Right. I am Bear, my right hand man here is Tiger, the guy with the huge machine gun is Hyena, coz he laughs madly, and the one with the limp wrist is Poodle."

"…Poodle?" Alex looked at the man standing in the corner, currently checking his weapon.

"I yelled 'puddle' at my friend when we first arrived at camp, everyone thought I yelled poodle and the damn name stuck."

"Why did you yell puddle at your friend?" Alex had an amused look on his face, and was trying and failing to keep his laughter at bay.

"He was about to step in one. It looked deep." The man said with a shrug. Alex snorted once, before coughing and grinning. He sobered, though, when the leader, Bear, cocked his gun. _'I still think I should get a gun.' _Even though he has sulked, Alex had not been given a gun. What, did they think he would look down the barrel and pull the trigger? He wasn't stupid.

"We're going in. Follow me, and kid? Stay close." Bear then moved out of the cover of the van they had been standing behind, and moved towards the fence they would have to climb to enter the school premises.

"Lock and load, boys." Alex whispered under his breath, pretending to cock his hand as though it were a gun, before stepping from behind the van himself.

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**I am mean. I know that. :) But I thought a cliffy was a good end to this. Now you can use your imaginations to bring up something, and then be extra surprised when I come up with something new and original. No pressure on me, then. XD Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the amazing reviews you guys. **

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	15. Are You Wearing Eyeliner?

**Aren't I good? Two updates in one week. I'm on a role. XD. I have decided to start replying to my reviews, but there are some anonymous ones that I couldn't. So thanks to: **

**Wolfmonster **

**Randomness**

**Anyway, onto the story. I guess I have kind of left you with yet another cliffy…I'm so evil. Muahahahaha! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Alex Rider is not mine, neither is CHERUB. The new character, however, totally is. And so is using Poodle as an SAS codename. No stealing Poodle, he is mine. XD. **

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Chapter 15

Her head felt too heavy for her neck, and her left arm was throbbing painfully, as though something hard and sharp had been driven into it. She moaned, her eyes opening slowly, before closing again at the harsh light, shining straight into her eyes. She was tied to a hard, metal chair, in a blank, grey room.

'_I never thought I'd see the day that major criminals used tranquilizer guns instead of real ones. Must be going soft'_ she could be called mad, but suddenly all she could think about was the fact that her shirtsleeve had ripped slightly when the bullet had gone in. It made her feel so exposed.

"Ahh, you are awake. I was waiting for you, so you can watch what I am about to do. It shall teach you a lesson, for the future. Not that you have a very long future anymore, of course. Open your eyes, silly girl." The voice was cold, emotionless and, unfortunately, Lauren recognised it.

'See? Look what you did Alex? You left me, and now I am caught with this mad bloke who works for Hitler. Hang on? Wasn't he tied up in CHERUB last time I saw him?'

"You know, I would open my eyes and everything, but apparently your main aim in life is too burn my irises clean off. Turn down the light, maybe?" A cold laugh echoed around the room, quick footsteps approached the chair she was sitting on. Suddenly, she could feel his breath on her neck, and she jumped, eyes snapping open, before turning to look at him, her breathing quickening as horrible thoughts ran through her head.

'_Oh god, please don't rape me'_

'_His breath stinks'_

'_He vants to suck my blood' _

She swallowed hard, and he chuckled humourlessly before yanking her hair back, so she could only see the ceiling. She let out a yelp of pain, which she instantly regretted because Monster chuckled that cold chuckle once more, sending chills down her spine.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Lauren shook her head, concentrating on controlling her rapid breathing.

"We are at CHERUB campus. Half of SCORPIA is currently here, whilst the rest is on their way. Soon, The Followers will also all be here, along with your precious bodyguard, _Rider"_ Monster spat out the name as though it were something disgusting stuck to the bottom of his shoe "and once they get here, the fun will really begin." After saying this, Monster laughed once more, and Lauren just had the chance to see a gun barrel being brought down hard onto her shoulder before she blacked out.

'_That'll be painful in the morning.'_

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'_Rightio, just follow the poodle and all will be good and dandy. Why does he keep going to the right? Stop swerving! Maybe I should put him on a leash. Haha! Focus, Alex, focus!' _Alex shook his head to stop the rambling, and somewhat odd, thoughts swimming through his head. He concentrated on slowing the rapid beat of his heart, and tried to ignore the rush of adrenaline pulsing through his veins that made him want to jump up and down like a rockstar on stage.

"Alright, Tiger, work your magic." Bear had stopped, and looked over his shoulder, signalling to Tiger to hurry up and snip the gate. Apparently Alex hadn't been listening properly; they were snipping through the fence, not climbing it. Could happen to anyone.

"Well that sounded perverted." Alex muttered under his breath, a habit he had taken up when he was sitting in maths. The teacher of said lesson always got a muttered beating by Alex. Unfortunately for Alex, though, Hyena had heard him, and showed Alex the exact reason he was given the name. He was very, very loud.

"Shhh! Do you want to get shot, for God's sake?" Poodle was glaring at Hyena over his shoulder, frowning with wide eyes.

"Sorry. The kids funny, you know?" _'Along with 'kid' again! I'm not a kid! I have passed puberty, thank you very much!' _Instead of speaking out loud, Alex decided to settle with a glare in Hyena's direction. The SAS man just grinned back.

"Got it! Lets go!" the whispered exclamation by Tiger was enough to get all their attention, and Bear lead the way through the fence, followed by Poodle, Hyena and Alex, with Tiger taking up the rear.

They crept almost silently into the new chemistry building, Alex with some bad memories, all of them ready to shoot anyone they saw. Except for Alex, because he of course didn't have a gun. He had his hand though and, making sure Hyena didn't see in case he found it funny, held it out in front of him as though it were a gun, like him and Tom used to as kids. He grinned at the memory, but sobered up immediately when he heard a noise come from the closet he had just passed. _'What the…?' _He had never encountered a professional killer that hid in a closet before. He halted, raising an eyebrow at the door, causing tiger to bump into him. _'Should've been looking.'_

"Keep moving, Rider." It was a bit unfair they knew his real name when he only knew them as animals, wasn't it?

"There's someone in that closet.' At his sentence, the other men turned to look. Alex reached for the doorknob, his hand almost closing around it before it was knocked away. He turned to see Poodle frowning at him, before the man pointed his gun at the door, and opened it himself.

"DON'T SHOOT! OH GOD, PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME!" Alex cringed. It wasn't only because of the amount of noise the boy inside the closet was making, it was also the fact that he recognised the voice. Ray Stambell. He was infamous around the school…for being completely and utterly gay.

"Shut up kid! We are here to help you, now shut the hell up! Do you want them to find us…are you wearing eyeliner?" Poodle was looking at Ray, his eyes wide, his face amused.

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry, if I'd known the army were coming I would have put some gloss on too." Right, and there was the sarcastic attitude the boy was also known for. Alex sighed, before swinging the closet door open the whole way, so that the boy in the year above his could see him.

"I know you! Rider, right? Bloody hell, what are you doing here?" Ray was looking at Alex like he had never seen him before.

"Saving my friends' butts. Wanna help Stambell?" Alex raised an eyebrow at the boy, who immediately nodded his head.

"I've been here since second lesson. I was skipping that class, you see. 'Twas PE, I always skip it. Homophobic twats that most of my classmates are. Anyway, I heard gunshots inside the school so I stayed here."

Clapping echoed through the building, and every head swivelled towards the source, gasps followed as they caught the first sight of a man by the name of Adolf Hitler.

"Oh my God. I knew he never died! I knew it! Oh god, he's gunna kill me 'coz I'm gay!" Ray began to inch behind Poodle, who had a bulletproof vest on.

"STOP MOVING!" The 15-year-old boy froze, whether in fear of the voice or the gun now pointed at him, Alex didn't know. But he did know that Ray had frozen in fear.

"You are very annoying, little boy. I am not zee same man who started zee second vorld var. I am zee last descendant of zat great man. I vill not be killing you yet, but if I vere you, I vould not tempt me in zee near future. I am, however, going to shoot you." When these words were spoken, lots of things happened. All four SAS men tried to jump in front of both Alex and Ray, but they were held back when at least ten armed and fully armoured men presumably working for the mad man in front of them came into view and restrained each SAS man. Alex, however, was not restrained, and he took that opportunity to step in front of a boy he didn't know, and protect him. He knew that he had more chance of surviving with the vest on.

"You vreally are brave, Mr Rider, very brave indeed. Brave, yet foolish. You are avare that if I vere to shoot you, it vould be in zee head. You vould have just as much chance of surviving as zee boy behind you. Which is none. I am not going to shoot you though, at least not with a bullet. It vould be useless to kill you wiv a gun, ven it vould be much more painful using other vays. No, I am too shoot you vith a tranquiliser. See you ven you vake, Mister Rider. Sveet dreams." These were the last words Alex heard before he blacked out completely.

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Ray Stambell was touched. A boy he had never spoken to before, admittedly a boy he had admired from afar but that was beside the point, had just stepped in front of him, and prepared to take a bullet for him. And now that same boy had just dropped to the floor, out cold, a pointy thing sticking out of his neck.

"Vhy he vas prepared to die for you I do not know, little boy. Perhaps he is your boyfriend, but that is unimportant. Now, you vill have zee same fate as him, a fate worse than vat I vould normally have given you. You vill no longer feel grateful tovards him aftervards. Goodnight, little boy."

The last thought of Ray Stambell before he was shot by the tranquiliser was: _'who the hell are you, Alex Rider?' _

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Ray Stambell is mine, XD. He is a minor character in one of my other stories, so I thought I would bring him into here. Alex will not turn out gay by the way; I just couldn't be bothered to make up a different character name. So I thought if I use the name, I should use the personality. So yeah.

**Hope you liked! Thanks for all the reviews…I almost have 100!! Ahhh!! **


	16. Sounds Kinky

**Ahhhh!! 100 reviews!! Wooo!! Thank you! XD. I'm so happy, and was going to totally write a chapter as soon as I got 100, then my damn lap top decided that it was going to up and die on me, so all my stuff is now stuck inside a stupid computer that doesn't even work. I guess the thing thought it was being worked too hard and wanted to go on a life long vacation…or commit suicide. Hmm…**

**Anonymous reviewers :I wouldn't have made it to 100 without these, so thanks too: **

**Wolfmonster**

**Randomness**

**AMY**

**AC a good reader (I can't write Alex serious, in fact I can't seem to be able to write any character very serious. I'm not a very serious person, sorry.) I can't believe how many 'serious'' I used in that sentence. **

**Anyway, onto the unplanned chapter, unplanned as the stupid plan is on my stupid laptop. (I am very annoyed about it, I have stories half written that I haven't posted on there, which I will now never get them the same again. Humph. (Schoolwork doesn't matter as much, XD))**

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Chapter 16

She had been right. In fact, in her opinion, she had been too damn right. Her shoulder really did hurt in the morning. It was throbbing, and she couldn't even lift her hand to rub it, because they were tied behind her back, to the chair. The one good thing was that she wasn't alone. She was sitting in a room with the entire rest of CHERUB agents in the exact same position as her. The kids who had tried to fight back were easy to point out: Bruce had a very large swollen lip; Kerry was supporting a new black eye, just as impressive as the one the seatbelt gave her; some girl that might have been called Stacy, but it might have been Louise had a nose that was bleeding thoroughly and even Paul, little asthmatic Paul had obviously tried, by the looks of his badly bent index finger on his right hand, which she could only see because he was sitting directly on her right.

But no, she wasn't alone. She may not have been alone, but Lauren Adams felt that she definitely deserved to be alone. Wasn't it her fault, after all? The bad guys were after her; the whole campus didn't have to be dragged into it. Oh and another thing… why the hell were they in the poolroom?

"Good afternoon everyone. We are waiting for a pretty important guest. Please be patient." Monster finished his little announcement with an evil cackle that pretty much sounded like it was from a cheesy 70's horror film. Lauren looked across at her best friend, Bethany, who had the wide-eyed look of either somebody very scared or somebody trying their best not to laugh. It could have been a mixture of both, really.

'_Where the fuck is my damn bodyguard?!' _As though her mind was being read, the doors of the huge room banged open, and in stalked Adolf Hitler.

'_There he is, my little bodyguard there…knocked out cold. Dammit!' _

"I see you have been vaiting. Tell me, vhere is zee girl?" The feared man began to look around the room, before his eyes fell on Lauren. She was tempted to give him a cheeky smile, but spotted his gun and decided against it. _'Maybe after they've arrested the bastard.'_

"Hello Miss Adams. I hope zat vhen you vitness the deaths of your friends tonight you vill accept responsibility for zem."

"That's a really cheesy line." A scratchy voice from behind Hitler said.

'_Hey, my bodyguards up.' _

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All eyes swerved towards Alex, but his eyes were focused on the man in front of him. He couldn't help but think that a murdering madman might just be a little more interesting to watch (not to mention safer). A murdering madman who was now leaning pretty close to him, a threatening glint in his eyes.

"I have heard of your cheekiness, Mr Rider. I vill not tolerate it, and vill not hesitate to tie you up and cause you unimaginable pain."

"Sounds kinky." Pain spread across his face, and his head whipped to one side by the force of the blow delivered to him.

"Well…that kinda hurt. One question… how did you get past all the damn SAS and reporters outside the school?"

"I vill not reveal my sources to you, Mr Rider. Many men have made zee foolish mistake of telling you theirs, and I vill not."

"That's a fancy way of telling us we went through the back door." A voice whispered from behind Alex, and he turned his head to see Ray Stambell looking at him with a put-on serious face. Alex snorted.

"You vill shut up, homosexual man, or you vill die first." Hitler turned on Ray, glaring at him.

"Shutting up."

"Now, Mr Rider, you have zee choice. Who shall I kill first, zee girl with zee pigtails, or zee boy who is in need of a haircut?"

"I think maybe the man with the moustache and crazy mind, don't you?" Another blow to the face, and Alex was once again into the realms of unconsciousness. He was beginning to quite like it there. Like home.

* * *

Hitler sighed. "Now look vat he did. I have to vait now. Shall we do something to entertain ourselves? BRING ZEE DOGS, I VANT TO KILL ZEM!"

The doors were thrown open… but dogs weren't thrown in. Instead, a boy who Lauren recognised was thrown into the room. This boy looked around, took one glance at Hitler, and turned back to the door.

"I see I walked in at a bad time. Never mind, I was just leaving."

"Stop zere you silly boy. I think I vill kill you for entertainment. I'm sure Mr Rider won't mind if he misses one death."

Kyle froze into place. All this trouble because James was in freaking hospital? Next time he wouldn't bother.

**

* * *

**

And that's another chapter! Sorry for the long wait! (God…writing makes me really freaking hungry.) It's really short…sorry bout that too.


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